


Teenage Dream

by loud_as_lions



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, fake dating (for a very short time but still)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22688065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loud_as_lions/pseuds/loud_as_lions
Summary: Ransom swoops in and saves Holster by telling someone that he is Holster’s Valentine’s Day date. Holster repays his bro for the save by actually taking him out on a Valentine’s Day date. It’s not a real date, though. It’s just a bro-date... right?
Relationships: Adam "Holster" Birkholtz/Justin "Ransom" Oluransi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88
Collections: Bitty's Valentines Collection





	Teenage Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Valentine for @redneterp on Tumblr (not sure if they have an ao3) as part of Bitty's Valentines! 
> 
> I haven't written any Holsom before despite loving them so much, so this was a great way to start! I chose Ransom's pov because I felt like I could connect with him easier since I am also a delicate ecosystem, so I hope I did him and his best bro some justice!

“Adam?”

Holster’s head whipped to find Esther Shapiro, hand on her hips at the end of their booth at Annie’s.

“Esther, hey! Uh, what’s-”

“I thought you said you had plans?”

Holster gestured vaguely to Ransom and the coffees and pastries on the table between them.

“Plans that you couldn’t change to go on a Valentine’s date with me.”

“Oh. Well, uh...”

Ransom didn’t know what possessed him to say it, the thought hadn’t even stopped in his brain to check with him, just flew right out of his mouth. “Not that it’s your business, but this is a Valentine’s date.”

Ester rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Adam, if you hadn’t wanted to go out you should’ve just told me flat out instead of-”

“Plans on Valentine’s Day isn’t flat out enough?”

Esther blinked between them. Then, shockingly, she smiled. “Well, of all the people to blow me off for, I guess I’m glad it’s him.”

And then she left.

Holster looked at him, seemingly trying to blink the shock out of his eyes. “Bro, nice save. Thanks.”

Ransom chuckled. “C’yeah, well, you were floundering, and I didn’t want you to get dragged on a last-minute V-Date by Esther Shapiro.”

“You were right, I’d prefer a V-Date with you anyway.” Holster winked.

Ransom choked a little on his coffee. “Holtzy, I didn’t mean-”

Holster cut him off despite his mouth full of lemon cake. “Dude, are you about to no-homo me? We’re better than that.”

Ransom snorted. He was right, of course. They were way past no-homo both in their lives and in their friendship.

“So, what are we doing for phase 2 of our V-Date?”

“Holtz, we don’t have to.” His heart was beating a little faster in his chest.

“We were hanging out anyways, right?” Holster asked.

Ransom nodded.

“We can just tweak our plans a little, then. Oh!” Holster’s face lit up, and Ransom’s heart skipped a beat. "We could go to that new karaoke bar we’ve been wanting to go to. And then I’ll walk you home at the end of the night. Bam! Rans and Holster V-Date.” Holster explained.

It wasn’t like Ransom was surprised that Holster was so comfortable with this. They’d been best friends for three years. They did everything together and knew everything about each other. Including Holster’s new-found pansexuality.

It was stupid that it changed things. It shouldn’t, Ransom knew that. But it did. Because he was bi, and somehow he’d never even considered Holster in a more-than-bros way until Holster had come out to him and now it was all he could think about. It made things like a spur of the moment Valentine’s Day date fill his stomach with butterflies.

“Only if you want to, man. If you’d rather us have chips and Mario Kart like we planned that’s cool, too.” Holster assured him. He knew this was an out, and that he should take it. Holster really wouldn’t care either way, he knew that, but the look on his face when he’d thought of the karaoke bar…

“No, it sounds great. We should do it.” Ransom smiled, and Holster did an excited fist pump. “We do have to go back to the Haus and change, though. We are not dressed for karaoke.”

Holster let out a laugh. “Good call. I’ll get us some to-go cups.”

Ransom took a breath to get himself together once Holster was gone. He could do this. It wouldn’t be weird; it was just like any other night they spent together. It wasn’t a real date, after all. It was a friend date. A bro date. They’d literally been on bro-dates before. This was no different.

He stood up and cleared their table while Holster waited for their drinks. Ransom had a hold on himself again just in time for Holster to come back and hand him his tea. “Thanks,” Ransom said.

Holster smiled and they were on their way.

It was normal until Holster took Ransom’s free hand in his when they got outside Annie’s.

Ransom blinked at him, and Holster shrugged. “I always think February is going to be warmer than it is.” He explained, looking down at Ransom’s gloved hand in his.

“Gotta start using that weather app of yours, bro.” Ransom laughed.

Holster made an indignant sound. “When it’s been 15 degrees for a month and a half, 30 sounds like summer!”

Holster’s hand remained in his for the rest of the walk back, but it was easier after that. Holster had always been his tension diffuser, Ransom just hadn’t thought it would apply to situations where the tension was caused by Holster, too. It was a relief to find out he was wrong. Maybe he could do this after all.

Ransom had gotten ready for quite a few dates in his life, but he’d yet to get ready for one with the person he was going on the date with. He decided he liked it better, though, when Holster turned to him holding up two different shirts. Ransom couldn’t help but grin. “Dressing to impress, Holtzy?” he teased, pointing to one of the shirts.

“Don’t know why, you’re already coming home with me.” Holster smirked.

Ransom chuckled, turning back to his dresser to dig around for his own shirt so Holster wouldn’t see the flustered look on his face.

They split fare for the uber to the bar, and Holster talked Ransom into signing up for an act before eating anything.

They had a few drinks and watched the other acts while waiting for their turn, and Holster refused to tell him what song he’d signed them up for.

“Come on, Holtz, I need to prepare!” he protested.

Holster chuckled into his drink. “Trust me, you know the words. Besides, there’s no studying in karaoke. That’s the point, it’s just fun.”

Ransom sighed. “Okay, you’re right, I’m sorry. I’m just…” Just what? He didn’t even know.

“It’s okay, Ransy-poo, dates make everyone nervous.” He said it so casually that Ransom just nodded, not fully absorbing. By the time it processed, Holster was smiling at him and taking his hand, and he knew he couldn’t say anything about it, not when Holster was pulling him up to the stage and someone was handing him a microphone.

Ransom took the stage next to Holster, who was grinning at him as if there wasn’t a bar full of people watching them.

He heard the familiar guitar start to play and Ransom couldn’t help laughing as there were a few cheers at the song choice from the crowd.

Holster began to sing Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream to him, and somehow despite his anxiety and nerves about the date, everything faded and there was only them, Ransom and Holster. It was his favorite way to be.

“Now every February, you’ll be my Valentine. Valentine,” Holster sang, and it was right to him, like a question, a confirmation, and Ransom grinned.

Holster took to the next lyrics more like he usually did- an absolute karaoke ham, performing now more than he had been before. And Ransom fed off of his energy, joining him enthusiastically for the chorus. They danced around each other and Ransom practically forgot they were on a stage until people cheered after they belted out the last notes.

They definitely weren’t the best that night, considering Holster was practically tone-deaf, but the bar-goers were loving them anyway and they were having a goddamn blast. It was like when they sang at Kegsters- off-key and energetic and giving a Ransom a feeling that he couldn’t describe even if you paid him, but he swears he could live off of it.

Holster hugged him once they got off the stage, and Ransom couldn’t wipe the grin off his face even if he wanted to.

They ordered dinner, finally, and enjoyed the other acts as they picked off of each other’s plates. It didn’t feel like any date Ransom had ever been on, but… that wasn’t a bad thing.

It definitely felt more date-like, though, when Holster reached across the table and took one of Ransom’s hands in his. He just played with it idly as he ate his food, rubbing his hand with his thumb, toying with his fingers. If Ransom couldn’t literally feel him doing it, he wouldn’t even have noticed. But he had, and his heart was fucking racing again, and he knew he should be trying to listen because Holster was mid-story about something that had happened in one of his classes but Ransom just couldn’t think about anything besides the thoughts using his brain as a fucking NASCAR track.

“Why did you tell Esther you had plans?” He interrupted.

Holster stopped talking and gave him a look, eyebrows knitted. “Because we had plans, dude. She asked me, like, two days ago.”

“I would’ve understood. You know that.” Ransom insisted.

Holster nodded. “Of course you would have, but I didn’t want to cancel. I wanted to be with you.”

Ransom blinked at him. Holster’s voice was like fucking velvet and he finally let himself think that maybe Holster meant that like he wanted him to. “Holtzy, is this a real date?”

“I’d like for it to be.” Holster grinned at him, and Ransom felt both excitement and relief spread through him.  
He let out a sigh. “Me too,” he said, smiling back at Holster. His grip on Ransom’s hand tightened, and they just looked at each other for a few moments. “I really want to kiss you right now, but I hate those stupid separated-by-a-table kisses.” Ransom admitted.

Holster chuckled. “Same. Are you finished?” he asked, gesturing to Ransom’s plate.

Ransom looked down and found the plate empty except for a few fries stolen from Holster’s plate. Holster’s was in a similar state.

“Wanna sing again, or?” Ransom asked.

Holster smirked. “I mean, I always wanna sing, but we can come back another time.

“Agreed.”

They paid at the bar and went outside to wait for their uber. “How about that kiss?” Ransom asked as they waited. “There’s no table in our way now.”

“Not yet.” Holster said, “if I start now, I will not want to stop, and I don’t think our uber driver will appreciate us making out in the back seat.”

Ransom laughed and agreed. It was a relief, to find out that Holster wanted this as much as he did. That he wanted him.

Once they were back at the Haus, though, they practically raced to the attic. They knew they were the first ones home, since all the lights had been off and all their other Hausmates were out with plans of their own.

And it was there, in their shared attic bedroom that they had their first kiss. And second. And third. And Ransom thought maybe they might have every kiss ever here in this room in this moment because he never wanted it to end.

They ended up on the bottom bunk, just kissing and hands roaming over clothed chests and backs, but Ransom felt the need to clarify, for both their sakes. “Despite what we sang about earlier, I don’t think we should go all the way tonight.” Ransom said between kisses.

Holster chuckled and nodded. “Agreed, I don’t want to go too fast and fuck this up.”

Ransom grinned and kissed him. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

He moved his mouth down to Holster’s neck and began kissing there when the blond spoke up again. “Katy was right about one thing, though.”

Ransom looked down at him, eyebrows raised.

“You make me,” he did this strange mix of a whisper and singing, “feel like I’m living a teenage dream,”

They laughed softly into each other’s necks before finding their rhythm again.

The next morning they woke up to the alarm clock, that beeped a few times before turning to the radio.

Holster almost fell out of the bed laughing, and Ransom shot out an arm to catch him.

Teenage Dream was playing on the radio.

* * *

“So, that’s why Teenage Dream is our song.” Ransom finished.

Their friends were all sprawled around Jack and Bitty’s living room, smiling at him and Holster, their hands clasped together.

“That’s sweet, y’all. But as your wedding planner I just can’t let Teenage Dream be your wedding song.” Bitty protested.

Jack put his hand on Bitty’s, still chuckling. “Come on, Bits. Settle on this one. Aren’t you just happy they aren’t asking to sing it?”

There were groans around the room as Holster whipped his head to Ransom. “Can we?” he asked excitedly.

Ransom could feel the death glare Bitty was giving Jack without even looking their way. But really, he knew that’s what they’d do from the beginning. He knew it would dawn on Holster eventually, and that he’d look at him with that same sunlit smile that he was giving him right now, and that Ransom would do absolutely anything for Holster, especially if it made him smile like that.

“Of course.”

Holster cheered, and their friends laughed and chirped them, and Ransom could barely hear any of it because just like that night all those years ago, it was just him and Holster grinning at each other like idiots, and that was all that mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! 
> 
> Come yell with me about these hockey bois on Tumblr @ jeanjacketbittle


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